10 AN ACT
concerning the consumer protection act; relating to deceptive
11 use of names of
municipalities in printed advertisements; amending
12 K.S.A. 50-626 and
repealing the existing section.
13
14 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the
State of Kansas:
15 Section
1. K.S.A. 50-626 is hereby amended to read as follows: 50-
16 626. (a) No supplier shall engage in any
deceptive act or practice in con-
17 nection with a consumer transaction.
18 (b) Deceptive
acts and practices include, but are not limited to, the
19 following, each of which is hereby declared
to be a violation of this act,
20 whether or not any consumer has in fact
been misled:
21
(1) Representations made knowingly or with reason to know
that:
22 (A) Property or
services have sponsorship, approval, accessories,
23 characteristics, ingredients, uses,
benefits or quantities that they do not
24 have;
25 (B) the supplier
has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation or con-
26 nection that the supplier does not
have;
27 (C) property is
original or new, if such property has been deterio-
28 rated, altered, reconditioned, repossessed
or is second-hand or otherwise
29 used to an extent that is materially
different from the representation;
30 (D) property or
services are of particular standard, quality, grade,
31 style or model, if they are of another
which differs materially from the
32 representation;
33 (E) the consumer
will receive a rebate, discount or other benefit as
34 an inducement for entering into a consumer
transaction in return for
35 giving the supplier the names of
prospective consumers or otherwise
36 helping the supplier to enter into other
consumer transactions, if receipt
37 of benefit is contingent on an event
occurring after the consumer enters
38 into the transaction;
39 (F) property or
services has uses, benefits or characteristics unless
40 the supplier relied upon and possesses a
reasonable basis for making such
41 representation; or
42 (G) use, benefit
or characteristic of property or services has been
43 proven or otherwise substantiated unless
the supplier relied upon and

2

1 possesses the type and amount of
proof or substantiation represented to
2 exist;
3 (2) the
willful use, in any oral or written representation, of exagger-
4 ation, falsehood, innuendo or
ambiguity as to a material fact;
5 (3) the
willful failure to state a material fact, or the willful
conceal-
6 ment, suppression or omission of a
material fact;
7
(4) disparaging the property, services or business of another
by mak-
8 ing, knowingly or with reason to
know, false or misleading representations
9 of material facts;
10 (5) offering
property or services without intent to sell them;
11 (6) offering
property or services without intent to supply reasonable,
12 expectable public demand, unless the offer
discloses the limitation;
13 (7) making false
or misleading representations, knowingly or with rea-
14 son to know, of fact concerning the reason
for, existence of or amounts
15 of price reductions, or the price in
comparison to prices of competitors
16 or one's own price at a past or future
time;
17 (8) falsely
stating, knowingly or with reason to know, that a consumer
18 transaction involves consumer rights,
remedies or obligations;
19 (9) falsely
stating, knowingly or with reason to know, that services,
20 replacements or repairs are needed;
21 (10) falsely
stating, knowingly or with reason to know, the reasons for
22 offering or supplying property or services
at sale or discount prices; and
23 (11) sending or
delivering a solicitation for goods or services which
24 could reasonably be interpreted or
construed as a bill, invoice or state-
25 ment of account due, unless:
26 (A) Such
solicitation contains the following notice, on its face, in
con-
27 spicuous and legible type in contrast by
typography, layout or color with
28 other printing on its face:
29 ``THIS IS A
SOLICITATION FOR THE PURCHASE OF GOODS
30 OR SERVICES AND NOT A BILL, INVOICE OR
STATEMENT OF
31 ACCOUNT DUE. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO
MAKE
32 ANY PAYMENTS UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS
OFFER''; and
33 (B) such
solicitation, if made by any classified telephone directory
34 service not affiliated with a local
telephone service in the area of service,
35 contains the following notice, on its face,
in a prominent and conspicuous
36 manner:
37 ``
IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH
38 (name of
telephone directory service)
39 ANY LOCAL TELEPHONE
COMPANY''.; and
40 (12) using, in
any printed advertisement, an assumed or fictitious
41 name for the conduct of such person's
business that includes the name of
42 any municipality, community or region or
other description of the mu-
43 nicipality, community or region in this
state in such a manner as to suggest

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1 that such person's business is
located in such municipality, community or
2 region unless: (A) Such person's
business is, in fact, located in such mu-
3 nicipality, community or region;
or (B) such person includes in any such
4 printed advertisement the complete
street and city address of the location
5 from which such person's business
is actually conducted. If located outside
6 of Kansas, the state in which such
person's business is located also shall
7 be included. The provisions of
this subsection shall not apply to the use
8 of any trademark or service mark
registered under the laws of this state
9 or under federal law; any such
name that, when applied to the goods or
10 services of such person's business, is
merely descriptive of them; or any
11 such name that is merely a surname.
Nothing in this subsection shall be
12 construed to impose any liability on any
publisher when such publisher
13 had no knowledge the business was not,
in fact, located in such munici-
14 pality, community or
region.
15 Sec. 2. K.S.A. 50-626 is hereby
repealed.
16 Sec. 3. This act shall
take effect and be in force from and after its
17 publication in the statute book.